Tuesday, July 14, 2009

All of us at one stage have seen that group of iconic posters by Rene Gruau for the French lipstick Rouge Baiser. Through the instantly recognisable Gruau style, these posters are masterpieces in graphic design. With just a few simple lines we get the impression that the lipstick was all a woman needed to make her sexy and irresistible. This is even more reinforced by the fact that Gruau covers his women’ eyes, so that the emphasis is on the lips the lips and nothing else. They stand out against the white of the background and the black lines of the drawing.

Mary Quant uses a play on her name to create a sensuous and sexy add, by calling her colour “Bloody Mary” This is playful and fun, drawing the viewers attention to the lips and colour by making them the same shade as a bloody mary.

Roger and Gallet has their model applying her lip colour in a gauntlet like gloved hand, as if she were going into battle and the final touch needed was a touch of colour to carry her through.

Helena Rubinstein ushered in the space age with ad below, with the colours imitating the cool clinical space age look of the late 1960’s. Again as in the Rouge Baiser ads the eyes are covered, so as to draw attention to the lips. Notice how the Rubinstein photographer has used the same lines as one of the Rouge Baiser ads

Just showing the lips in these ads was a very effective tool in selling the lipstick and emphasised that if you need some sort of macquillage, the lipstick was necessary. In all these ads both photography and the drawn line are equally effective, conveying the message with comparative ease

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